JP-U-6-86366 discloses a card edge connector in which connector terminals are located at different position's in a direction perpendicular to a surface of a board. The board is a multilayer board in which multiple substrates are stacked on top of each other. An end portion of an inner substrate of the multilayer board extends beyond an end portion of an outermost substrate of the multilayer board. Multiple terminals are arranged in each of the end portions of the inner substrate and the outermost substrate. Thus, a step having a height corresponding to a thickness of one substrate is formed between an inner card edge portion provided by the end portion of the inner substrate and an outer card edge portion provided by the end portion of the outermost card edge. The step allows the terminals to be located at different positions in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the board.
According to the card edge connector disclosed in JP-U-6-86366, the height of the step depends on the thickness of one substrate. Therefore, the height of the step may be small. In such a case, since the terminals on the inner substrate are located close to the terminals on the outermost substrate, a short-circuit may occur.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,628,654, corresponding to JP-A-2009-176625, filed by the present inventors, discloses a card edge connector in which terminals are suitably spaced in a direction vertical to a surface of an electronic board. The card edge connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,628,654 includes a housing, a first conductive part, a second conductive part, a supporting conductive part, and a connecting element. The housing has an insertion hole for receiving an end portion of the electronic substrate therein. The electronic substrate includes a first terminal and a second terminal disposed on a surface of the end portion. The first terminal is located in front of the second terminal in an insertion direction in which the end portion of the electronic substrate is inserted into the housing. The first conductive part is disposed in the insertion hole and is configured to come in contact with the first terminal when the end portion of the electronic substrate is received by the housing. The second conductive part is disposed in the insertion hole and is configured to come in contact with the second terminal when the electronic substrate is received by the housing. The first conductive part is located at a first distance from the surface of the electronic substrate in a direction approximately vertical to the planer direction of the electronic substrate when the electronic substrate is received by the housing. The supporting conductive part is disposed in the housing and is located at a second distance from the surface of the electronic substrate in the direction approximately vertical to the planer direction of the electronic substrate when the end portion of the electronic substrate is received by the housing. The second distance is larger than the first distance. The connecting element couples the second conductive part and the supporting conductive part.
Since the second distance is larger than the first distance, the first conductive part and the supporting conductive part are suitably spaced in the direction vertical to the surface of the electronic substrate.
However, the first conductive part and the supporting conductive part have different structures, and accordingly, manufacturing cost may be increased.